###¤$††-:. .:-††$¤###
##¤$††-:.. ..:-††$¤##
#¤$††-:... ...:-††$¤#
¤$††-:.... ....:-††$¤
$††-:..... .....:-††$
††-:...... #...--------...# ......:-††
†-:....... ####.-- FERMI'S PARADOX --.#### .......:-†
-:........ #...--------...# ........:-
:......... .........:
-:........ ON EARTH (THE PLANET WHERE I LIVE) A ........:-
†-:....... LOT OF US HAVE ANTENNAS ON OUR HOUSES .......:-†
††-:...... OR BALCONIES, WE HAVE BUILT LARGE ......:-††
$††-:..... ANTENNAS FOR LARGER BANDWITH, WE HAVE .....:-††$
¤$††-:.... BUILD SPECIALIZED ANTENNAES FOR ....:-††$¤
#¤$††-:... SPECIFIC WAVELENGTHS (AND SENT THEM ...:-††$¤#
##¤$††-:.. INTO ORBIT), WE'VE BUILT LARGE AS FUCK ..:-††$¤##
###¤$††-:. ANTENNA ARRAYS .:-††$¤###
##¤$††-:.. WE'VE VIRTUALLY BUILT AN ANTENNA WITH A ..:-††$¤##
#¤$††-:... DISH AS LARGE AS EARTH. ...:-††$¤#
¤$††-:.... ....:-††$¤
$††-:..... WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT OUR POSITION IN THE .....:-††$
††-:...... SOLAR SYSTEM, OUR SOLAR SYSTEMS ......:-††
†-:....... PLACEMENT IN THE GALAXY, AND OUR .......:-†
-:........ GALAXYS PLACEMENT IN THE LOCAL CLUSTER, ........:-
:......... AND -OUR- LOCAL CLUSTERS PLACE IN THE .........:
-:........ GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS ........:-
†-:....... .......:-†
††-:...... AND WE'RE MOVING AROUND THE SUN AT ......:-††
$††-:..... VELOCITY AND THE SUNS MOVING AROUND THE .....:-††$
¤$††-:.... CENTER OF THE GALAXY AT VELOCITY AND ....:-††$¤
#¤$††-:... THE GALAXY IS MOVING TOWARD ANDROMEDA ...:-††$¤#
##¤$††-:.. AND WE'RE BOTH MOVING ANTICLOCKWISE ..:-††$¤##
###¤$††-:. AROUND THE GALAXY. AND WE AS A SPECIES .:-††$¤###
##¤$††-:.. HAVE LEARNED TO TAKE ALL THAT IN ACCOUNT ..:-††$¤##
#¤$††-:... ...:-††$¤#
¤$††-:.... AND DESPITE ALL THIS, DESPITE ALL OUR ....:-††$¤
$††-:..... (CLICHE) BEAMING OF FUCKING STELLAR .....:-††$
††-:...... RADIO PROGRAMMES OUT IN FUCKING SPACE ......:-††
†-:....... AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT (LIGHT IS OUR .......:-†
-:........ MEDIUM! GOODSPEED YOU, BLACK EMPEROR!), ........:-
:......... DESPITE GHOSTS HELPING AND THE .........:
-:........ COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS LOWPASS ........:-
†-:....... FILTERING, DESPITE OUR VERY OBVIOUS .......:-†
††-:...... BEAMING OF ALL OUR SECRETS IN EVERY ......:-††
$††-:..... DIRECTION KNOWN TO US, .....:-††$
¤$††-:.... ....:-††$¤
#¤$††-:... NO . ONE . HAS . ANSWERED ...:-††$¤#
##¤$††-:.. ..:-††$¤##
###¤$††-:. #...--------...# .:-††$¤###
##¤$††-:.. ####.-- FERMI'S PARADOX --.#### ..:-††$¤##
#¤$††-:... #...--------...# ...:-††$¤#
¤$††-:.... ....:-††$¤
$††-:..... SO WHY IS THAT? .....:-††$
††-:...... ......:-††
†-:....... MOST OPPONENTS TO INTELLIGENT LIFE IN .......:-†
-:........ THE UNIVERSE SAY IT'S BECAUSE YOU NEED ........:-
:......... A CLASS ONE-OR-THE-OTHER STAR AND THE .........:
-:........ PLANET NEEDS TO BE AT A SEE-AND-SO ........:-
†-:....... DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE STAR (LIKE THERE .......:-†
††-:...... HAS TO BE A PLANET!) ......:-††
$††-:..... .....:-††$
¤$††-:.... BUT REALLY ISN'T THAT KEEPING THE ....:-††$¤
#¤$††-:... DEFINITION OF LIFE REALLY LAX? ...:-††$¤#
##¤$††-:.. ..:-††$¤##
###¤$††-:. I THINK EVERYONE AGREES THAT WE HAVE NO .:-††$¤###
##¤$††-:.. IDEA WHAT WE'RE DOING (AND IT PROBABLY ..:-††$¤##
#¤$††-:... SHOWS) ...:-††$¤#
¤$††-:.... ....:-††$¤
$††-:..... #...--------...# .....:-††$
††-:...... ####.-- FERMI'S PARADOX --.#### ......:-††
†-:....... #...--------...# .......:-†
-:........ ........:-
:......... I'M GONNA GO SMOKE MY THIRD CIGARETTE .........:
-:........ THIS YEAR AND TRY TO SNATCH SOME BEERS ........:-
†-:....... FROM THE LOCAL BEER THING .......:-†
††-:...... ......:-††
$††-:..... .....:-††$
¤$††-:.... ....:-††$¤
#¤$††-:... ...:-††$¤#
##¤$††-:.. ..:-††$¤##